The Speaker is to stand down

Michael Martin has at last put the dignity of his chamber before his own interest. Having been disobliging about him yesterday, let me salute him now. Having brandished an aggressive quotation from Macbeth at him, let me offer a kinder one:

"Very frankly he confess'd his treasons, implored your Highness' pardon and set forth a deep repentance. Nothing in his life became him like the leaving of it".

Kudos, as the Americans say, to Douglas Carswell, who began his campaign for a new Speaker two years ago and who, until last week, was almost a lone voice. I freely admit my partiality: Douglas is my friend. (My three-year-old, watching him on the television yesterday, excitedly declared: "Look, it's my godfather. Does he have a flower behind his back?" – this an allusion to Douglas's tendency to present her with blooms from his Essex garden.) But, friend or no, he has achieved something that has not been done in 300 years, and has done so from no motive beyond restoring the integrity of his House .

The next Speaker must recover the authority of the Commons, siding with its Members against agents of the Executive, defending parliamentary prerogatives against ministers, quangos, Eurocrats and judges, foreign and domestic. This is MPs' chance to restore a measure of their honour. They might not get another.